It’s good that gender being a social construct is slowly becoming accepted. It’s also good that people are starting to realize that sex is complicated and there are no simple rules to determine someone’s sex.
The one drawback to all this I can see is that it might be slightly undermining progress made in avoiding stereotyping interests and activities as being male activities/interests or female activities/interests. IMO, the progressive view in the 1970s was that boys could play with dolls, girls could play with cars. Boys could wear dresses, girls could play sports. Boys could put on makeup (and then perform on stage in bands made up of other boys with big hair and makeup), girls could like superhero comic books. It seems to me like with the modern acceptance that some people are transgender, we’re now slipping back into thinking that hobbies and interests are gender-coded.
It’s good that gender being a social construct is slowly becoming accepted. It’s also good that people are starting to realize that sex is complicated and there are no simple rules to determine someone’s sex.
I think the second half of your comment is true, but it is part of the push back against genders as social constructs. I wouldn’t agree that it’s becoming accepted. Most people either disagree or pay some lip service to the idea and then buy an all pink dress for their little girl because “it’s what she likes”
but it is part of the push back against genders as social constructs
I don’t think so, at least not exclusively. I think trans people are some of the people pushing it. They want to fit in, so they lean into things that are stereotypically part of that new gender. But, by doing that, they push out people who are of that gender, but have no interest in those stereotypical things. For example, I worked with a transgender woman. After she transitioned she started wearing lots of makeup, “girly” clothes, high heels, a fancy wig, and started leaning into her stereotypically female interests. But, this was at a tech job where many of the other women wore Star Wars tees and jeans, minimal or no makeup, and geeked out over keyboards and Linux distributions. I got the impression that they felt uncomfortable around the trans woman, because of the over-the-top approach.
I’m not trying to police her behaviour, and I can understand some reasons why she might have done it. I just think it’s unfortunate the effect it had on the other women around the office.
It’s good that gender being a social construct is slowly becoming accepted. It’s also good that people are starting to realize that sex is complicated and there are no simple rules to determine someone’s sex.
The one drawback to all this I can see is that it might be slightly undermining progress made in avoiding stereotyping interests and activities as being male activities/interests or female activities/interests. IMO, the progressive view in the 1970s was that boys could play with dolls, girls could play with cars. Boys could wear dresses, girls could play sports. Boys could put on makeup (and then perform on stage in bands made up of other boys with big hair and makeup), girls could like superhero comic books. It seems to me like with the modern acceptance that some people are transgender, we’re now slipping back into thinking that hobbies and interests are gender-coded.
I think the second half of your comment is true, but it is part of the push back against genders as social constructs. I wouldn’t agree that it’s becoming accepted. Most people either disagree or pay some lip service to the idea and then buy an all pink dress for their little girl because “it’s what she likes”
I don’t think so, at least not exclusively. I think trans people are some of the people pushing it. They want to fit in, so they lean into things that are stereotypically part of that new gender. But, by doing that, they push out people who are of that gender, but have no interest in those stereotypical things. For example, I worked with a transgender woman. After she transitioned she started wearing lots of makeup, “girly” clothes, high heels, a fancy wig, and started leaning into her stereotypically female interests. But, this was at a tech job where many of the other women wore Star Wars tees and jeans, minimal or no makeup, and geeked out over keyboards and Linux distributions. I got the impression that they felt uncomfortable around the trans woman, because of the over-the-top approach.
I’m not trying to police her behaviour, and I can understand some reasons why she might have done it. I just think it’s unfortunate the effect it had on the other women around the office.